Huntsville gazette., 1887-07-30

same, cried Mary Ann, incoherently;
'but I'd rather not be hired maid at
half-price board to my own aunt 1t
isn't money or secondhand clothes |
need 80 much, though I'm poor and
friendless enough, Heaven knows! but
it's some one to be kind to me. And
you always made as if you were very
fond of me when you came to Apple
Farm"
Things have changed since then,"
exclaimed Miss Dickson, in towering
passion.
"They have, indeed" said Mary Ann.
$50 goodbye, Aunt Polly. I Idaresay
l shall find honest work somewhere.
If not, it won't be for lack of trying"
And Mary Ann took the next train
back to Deep Gorge, to pour out her
sorrow into the sympathetic ear OF
Mrs. Pollard, the minister's wife, who
had always been her kindest ally.
Mother" said Reuben Pollard, II
can't stand little Mary AIMS tears. l
know I'm not rich; I've only twelve
dollars week; but, living as we do,
that's enough to meet our simple ex-
penses. And am twenty, and Mary
Ann is seventeen; but we are both old
enough to know our own minds. !
love Mary Ann, mother, and am 60
ing to tell her so.'
"And can't find it in my heart to
blame you, Reuben, said Mrs. Pollard,
her own eyes sparkling through GER
tain suspicious mist. you'll have to
wait awhile, my son, until you've
earned enough to furnish a little room
for her; but, in the meanwhile, she is
welcome to home in the parsonage" I"
Miss Dickson-the New York Miss
Dickson, with the high cheek bones,
the thin, sandy hair, and the receding
chin, not the Apple Farm Miss Dick
son, with the blue eyes, the pink and
white complexion, and the ripe cherry
of a mouth-was giving audience to
her dressmaker, a few days subsequent
ly, when the clearinghouse maid-of
all-work brought in letter, held, maid
of-all-work fashion, in the corner OF
her apron.
"Norah," said Miss Dickson, raising
both her hands despairingly, Twill you
never learn that the letters should be
brought in on the little brass trayp'
She took the letter, nevertheless,
from Norah's grimy fingers, and care
lessly tore open its envelope.
'.It's from Mr.. Capson, the New Jer-
sey lawyer who had charge Of Aunt
Zeruiah Dodd's affairs" she thought
"Nov l shall know, from real official
sources, exactly how much l am
worth"
A thrill Of triumph went through
her heart as she prepared to peruse
this welcome epistle:
my DEAR MISS DICKSON" it read ''I have
recently learned, to my great regret, that you
have been informally notified, through the let.
tiers OF the gossiping good folks hereabouts, that
you are the hciress of Miss Zeruiah Dodd, my
late client, who is recently deceased, possessed
of ninety thousand dollars, chiefly in Govern
ment bonds and reliable bond and mortgage in
vestments This is an entirely gratuitous assump
tion on their parts. The money was bequeathed
to Mary Ann Dickson, it is true, but it was to
Mary Ann, daughter OF the late zerubbabel
Dickson, of Deep Gorge Conn, and not, as you
may have been allowed enormously to suppose,
to yourself.
Hoping that your expectations have not been
unduly raised by foundationless rumors, re.
main, Very truly your servant,
CALVIN CAPSoN."
The letter dropped from Miss Dick
sons nerveless hand.
"And am not an heiress, after all"
she thought. II am just as poor as l
was before, and here are all the dresses
ordered, the most expensive mourning
to be got in New York! And nobody
can tell what Miss Bibbington's bill
will be. Dressmakers are perfectly
conscienceless.
And Miss Dickson burst into shower
of hysterical tears.
She spent thenext summer in her hot
back room in the cheap boarding-house.
with an outlook on tin roofs and smoke
blackened chimneys. She could not
carry out the Saratoga and Lake
George programmes, and she had not
the face to propose visit to Apple
Farm.
Though" she said to herself, II am
told that little Mary Ann has bought
back the old place and fitted it up
beautifully, and is living there with the
young man she has married-one Mr..
Pollard-a regular fortune hunter, I've
no doubt in the worldt"
But, in the intense self-absorption OF
her nature, Miss Dickson never could
be made to understand the sort Of af-
fection which existed between Reuben
Pollard and his young wife-a link
which Aunt Zeruiah's ninety thousand
dollars could neither make nor mar